Page 23 of The Devil's Bargain
Not a chance.
Him?
Please.
He—
He jumped in his chair when his multi-slate suddenly rang, heart pounding wildly in his chest, only easing slightly when he saw Calix’s name flash across the screen. Even knowing it could be a trap, he cleared his throat and tried his best to sound put out when he answered, as though he really were buried in work with no way out.
“Hello, monster mine, what can I do for you?” Aodhan picked up a stack of papers and shook them near the receiver end of his device.
“Are you busy?” Calix asked.
“Swamped.”
“Is it for tomorrow? Mercy mentioned you have an important surgery with the CEO of one of the largest companies on planet.”
Oh, so the asshole did remember.
Aodhan clenched his fist but kept his tone light. “Yeah. It’s a complicated one. I may have to stay here for the night. Sorry I’m not there to ask about your first day back in person. How did it go?”
“Aodhan.”
His eyes narrowed. That…didn’t sound good. “…Yeah?”
“It was only my first day in my new position, and I barely had a chance to review any of the case files.”
“Okay…”
“That means tomorrow is a big day for me as well. You understand, don’t you?”
Aodhan dropped back into his seat, not liking where he thought this was going. “Just spit it out, Calix.”
He let out a breath. “Mercy said, if you don’t come home within the hour, I’ll have to take your punishment for you. I would, but you know how important Bruce’s case is to me.”
“Wow.” Aodhan didn’t know whether to be impressed by how they were tag teaming him or feel betrayed. “You do recall falling for me first, right?”
“Technically…I had a crush on him when I was a teen so…”
“Wow,” he repeated.
“Aodhan,” Calix dropped his tone, “please.”
“I’m regretting taking on a Third.” Still, he was already standing and switching off his computer.
“Even if I tell you I’d love for you to carve an A into my thigh? I’ll even let you lick me clean.”
He paused. “I’ll be home in thirty minutes.”
Chapter 9:
Titus didn’t like feeling inadequate. It wasn’t a common sensation he experienced, and he found it made him irritable. The hope had been that assigning Calix to the department would garner some leads, but weeks into the job, Cal constantly returned home more sullen than the day before.
He should have known the police wouldn’t be able to do something Titus himself couldn’t, and yet…Bruce had meant something to his little monster, had filled a role impossible for Titus to ever step into.
He wanted him to have closure.
Wanted them to find the culprit and finally put the whole ordeal behind them.
